/*
 * The MIT License (MIT)
 *
 * Copyright (c) 2014 University of Manchester
 *
 * Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy
 * of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal
 * in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights
 * to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell
 * copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is
 * furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:
 *
 * The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in
 * all copies or substantial portions of the Software.
 *
 * THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR
 * IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY,
 * FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE
 * AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER
 * LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM,
 * OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN
 * THE SOFTWARE.
 */

package uk.ac.manchester.cs.mekon.model;

/**
 * Represents an entity that can be the value for an instance-level
 * slot. Value-entities can be either instance-level or concept-level.
 *
 * @author Colin Puleston
 */
public interface IValue extends FEntity {

	/**
	 * Provides the type of the value-entity (which could be either a
	 * concept-level entity or a meta-level entity, depending on the
	 * level of the value-entity).
	 *
	 * @return Type of value-entity
	 */
	public CValue<?> getType();

	/**
	 * Specifies whether the value-entity represents a set of possible
	 * values, rather than a specific concrete value.
	 *
	 * @return True if value-entity is abstract
	 */
	public boolean abstractValue();
}
